February 20, 201115 yr I'm putting my specs together for a new system: i7 970, 16GB RAM, etc and need a solid recommendation for video card that's not too pricey ... like somewhere between $125 and $175 I've been looking at the GTX 460; what can I expect from this card for FX performance / experience? Like everyone else, I'd like detailed scenery and a generally smooth ride from the board. FSX is the only game application I run; can I get a high quality experience from this board or am I giong to have to shell out more money for that? I'm also open to other board recommendations.I'm considering using the ASUS P6X58D MOBO .... anyone know if the GTX 460 fits in it? I've been using computers well over 20 years but this will be my first build and I'd really like to get it right without a return / replace cycle ...Thanks,John
February 20, 201115 yr 16GB of RAM is way overkill for FSX. Besides that's a tripple channel system and it's best to use 3 sticks for 6GBIf you can wait for the fixed Sandy Bridge boards I would go that route instead. I5 2500 or I7 2600 (or the K versions if you plan on a serious overclock) + 4 or 8 GB of DDR3 RAM 1600 CL7 (those are very cheap these days)You get more performance for less money so you can use what you save to get a GTX 570 or 580 if you want to run higher levels of antialiasing (8xSQ)A 460 performs nicely at 8xS
February 20, 201115 yr Got a 2gb gtx 460 overclocked. Runs four monitors, I'm quite happy with it, not too many artifacts. It's a short board and fits easily in the case, and has a centered fan, so it's not too loud. When it winds up it's a low hum. I would however like some better AA. And I will switch to a higher 500-card probably later this year. Save money on the ram as recommended above. Bjorn "I´ll rather be down here wishing I was up there than be up there wishing I was down here"
February 21, 201115 yr Got a 2gb gtx 460 overclocked. Runs four monitors, I'm quite happy with it, not too many artifacts. It's a short board and fits easily in the case, and has a centered fan, so it's not too loud. When it winds up it's a low hum. I would however like some better AA. And I will switch to a higher 500-card probably later this year. Save money on the ram as recommended above. BjornIf you don't have four monitors, a 1 GB GTX460 will do nicely for FSX.If your budget allows it, you can go for the 560 (probably $50 more..) Bert
February 21, 201115 yr Author 16GB of RAM is way overkill for FSX. Besides that's a tripple channel system and it's best to use 3 sticks for 6GBIf you can wait for the fixed Sandy Bridge boards I would go that route instead. I5 2500 or I7 2600 (or the K versions if you plan on a serious overclock) + 4 or 8 GB of DDR3 RAM 1600 CL7 (those are very cheap these days)You get more performance for less money so you can use what you save to get a GTX 570 or 580 if you want to run higher levels of antialiasing (8xSQ)A 460 performs nicely at 8xSdazz,thanks for the reply; I need the 16gb and the 970 chip for other, non-FSX stuff; I need to be able to run a VM running a database instance w/o interfering with everything else .... what I'm trying to figure is what difference there is in a really high end GPU vs just a really good one like the 460; haven't been able to find anything on the web to watch where you could see the differences; it comes down to the same old story of wanting a great experience without having to put out a pile of moneyJohn
February 21, 201115 yr dazz,thanks for the reply; I need the 16gb and the 970 chip for other, non-FSX stuff; I need to be able to run a VM running a database instance w/o interfering with everything else .... what I'm trying to figure is what difference there is in a really high end GPU vs just a really good one like the 460; haven't been able to find anything on the web to watch where you could see the differences; it comes down to the same old story of wanting a great experience without having to put out a pile of moneyJohnYou will not see a difference - it amounts to how fast the card can render the image at high detail.If you want really high frame-rates without any stutters AND your system can provide the data to thecard fast enough (read 4 GHz+), then a high end card will give you that. Bert
February 21, 201115 yr Author You will not see a difference - it amounts to how fast the card can render the image at high detail.If you want really high frame-rates without any stutters AND your system can provide the data to thecard fast enough (read 4 GHz+), then a high end card will give you that.Far as I know nothing out there delivers 4ghz without overclocking; so can you get a i7-970 to that speed without getting into specialized cooling subsystems? I would have thought that these high-end Intel processors with a lot of cache, running on a fast bus with fast RAM would be delivering just a ton of throughput .... but, FSX is demanding for a high-quality experience and I don't know how well it takes advantage of system resources ... it is an old code base at this point in time ...I'm sort of out of the loop on this stuff; I haven't overclocked a chip since we all used to do it with the 80286 .... all the way up to 10MHZ !!btw, how much difference do these addons like REX make in terms of the overall experience? It looks like it's a lot ...Thanks, and thanks to everyone who's responded ....John
February 21, 201115 yr Far as I know nothing out there delivers 4ghz without overclocking; so can you get a i7-970 to that speed without getting into specialized cooling subsystems? I would have thought that these high-end Intel processors with a lot of cache, running on a fast bus with fast RAM would be delivering just a ton of throughput .... but, FSX is demanding for a high-quality experience and I don't know how well it takes advantage of system resources ... it is an old code base at this point in time ...I'm sort of out of the loop on this stuff; I haven't overclocked a chip since we all used to do it with the 80286 .... all the way up to 10MHZ !!btw, how much difference do these addons like REX make in terms of the overall experience? It looks like it's a lot ...Thanks, and thanks to everyone who's responded ....JohnYou can go to the extreme and install water cooling - some folks have - but if you are lookingfor a satisfying experience, a 460 or 560 card with a 3 Ghz+ current quad CPU will give you that.Make sure you get a good motherboard and fast memory to match and Windows 7 64 bit.As for scenery - the sky is the limit (pardon the pun). Personally, I consider Orbx Pacific North Westto be the benchmark, and it would be the first scenery package I would install. Bert
February 22, 201115 yr All that Ram may hinder stable overclock in the 4GHz area.B "I´ll rather be down here wishing I was up there than be up there wishing I was down here"
February 22, 201115 yr Double post, curtesy of iPhone, deleted. B "I´ll rather be down here wishing I was up there than be up there wishing I was down here"
February 22, 201115 yr Author You can go to the extreme and install water cooling - some folks have - but if you are lookingfor a satisfying experience, a 460 or 560 card with a 3 Ghz+ current quad CPU will give you that.Make sure you get a good motherboard and fast memory to match and Windows 7 64 bit.As for scenery - the sky is the limit (pardon the pun). Personally, I consider Orbx Pacific North Westto be the benchmark, and it would be the first scenery package I would install.@Bert ..... that Orbx scenery is spectacular .... I'm more into heavies and business jets in and out of LAX, SFO, SAN, JFK, DCA/IAD, ORD, etc though ... as far as the MOBO, is the ASUS P6X58D a good choice? definitely going Win7/64 with the fastest RAM available ...@Crewecut ... didn't know that about a lot of RAM ... and worth knowing ...Thx,JF
February 22, 201115 yr @Bert ..... as far as the MOBO, is the ASUS P6X58D a good choice? definitely going Win7/64 with the fastest RAM available ...I've been using Asus motherboards for as long as I can remember and never had a problem.Look up the reviews for sure - but I would recommend Asus without hesitation. Bert
February 25, 201115 yr I found my last Asus board...challenging w. regards to overclocking. Gigabyte has won me over. B "I´ll rather be down here wishing I was up there than be up there wishing I was down here"
March 3, 201115 yr Make sure you get a good motherboard and fast memory to match and Windows 7 64 bitTo "match" what? I'm planning to buy an Intel Core i5 2500K with as mobo the MSI P67A-GD65 (contains Millitary Class II and OC Genui II) What do you think about this mobo?- Also planning to get a new gpu, like the topic-starter. Really hard to find out what's the best. But is it true that the GTX 460 is better than the GTX 470 and GTX 480? And wich one would be better for FSX, the GTX 460 or the GTX 560Ti?Kind regards,Steven Steven Albi
March 3, 201115 yr And which one would be better for FSX, the GTX 460 or the GTX 560Ti?GTX560 is faster. Both new cards. The others are "previous generation". Bert
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